Jeff Moss
Jeff Moss (June 19, 1942 - September 24, 1998) was a writer, composer and lyricist on Sesame Street. He served as head writer from seasons 2 to 5 and wrote some of the show's best-known songs including "Rubber Duckie," "I Love Trash," "The People in Your Neighborhood," "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon," and "Nasty Dan." Moss also helped create and/or establish the characters Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley. Moss won 15 Emmys for his work and wrote the songs for four Grammy Award-winning records. When released as a single in 1970, "Rubber Duckie" sold more than a million copies. Moss' songs were known internationally as well; Claude François' recording of "Nasty Dan" went to #1 on the pop chart in France. He also composed the songs and score for The Muppets Take Manhattan, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song Score. The Oscar went to Prince for "Purple Rain." Moss wrote over a dozen best-selling books under the Sesame Street label, including The Sesame Street Book of Poetry. Several of his songs have been illustrated and published as well. He also wrote three collections of children's poetry and several short stories. Moss died of cancer on September 24, 1998. One of his last writing credits was the script for the Elmo's World segment "Music." Composer credits ''Sesame Street Image:3513.jpg|Adding Image:3982o.jpg|Adding, Adding, Adding Image:AllByMyself02.jpg|All By Myself Image:AllDressedUpBert.JPG‎|All Dressed Up 3962t.jpg|Animal Books FirstTimeLP.jpg|Baby Brother Image:Listentothebells.jpg‎|Bells Image:Bigroundnose.jpg|Big Round Nose Image:Song.BlueberryMouth.jpg|Blueberry Mouth Image:Song.Bones.jpg|Bones Image:BreakfastTime.jpg|Breakfast Time Image:Song.brushboogie.jpg|Brush Boogie Image:Butilikeyou.jpg|But I Like You Image:CaptainVegetable.jpg|Captain Vegetable Image:3960l.jpg|A Cat Had a Birthday Circlegirl.jpg|Circle the Girl Image:Circlessong.jpg|Circles Image:NumbersLP.jpg‎|Climbing Nine Stairs CookieRockSong.jpg|Cookie Image:Deedeedee.jpg|Dee Dee Dee Image:1708m.jpg|Eight Beautiful Notes Image:EverybodysSong1978.jpg|Everybody's Song BBFrankie.jpg|Everyone in My Family Image:Everyoneicecream.jpg|Everyone Likes Ice Cream Image:Everyonemakesmistakes2.jpg|Everyone Makes Mistakes Image:Mahnasesame2.jpg|Fat Cat Image:Youngcount.jpg|The First Day of School Image:MonstersLP.jpg‎|Five Monsters in My Family Image:5peopleinmyfamily.jpg|Five People in My Family FirstTimeLP.jpg|For the First Time LittleJerryandtheMonotones2.jpg|Four Image:3979l.jpg|From Your Head Image:Goinforaride.jpg|Goin' for a Ride Image:GoodbyeFly.jpg|Goodbye Fly File:TheGrouchSong.JPG|The Grouch Song Image:Whenitsmybirthday.jpg‎|Happy Birthday to Me 2485t.jpg|Happy That I Love Her Image:Happytomeetyou.jpg|Happy to Meet You Image:HiFriend.jpg|Hi Friend Image:1396d.jpg|High, Middle, Low Image:3085l.jpg|Honk, Bang, Whistle and Crash Image:Howdoyougetfromheretothere.jpg|How Do You Get from Here to There? Image:ICanSingAnything.jpg|I Can Sing Image:Ernieonthemoon.jpg|I Don't Want to Live on the Moon Image:Everybodys.jpg|I Have Feet Image:Ilovetrash.jpg|I Love Trash Image:Song.loveyouspring.jpg|I'll Love You In Springtime Song.GettingDressed.jpg|I Put My Leg in My Pants Image:Holdyourear1.jpg|I Want to Hold Your Ear Image:Hairfurcut.jpg|I'm Going to Get My Hair Cut 3069l.jpg|Imagine If You Would (A Ship Inside Your Mind) Image:Song.imaginethat.jpg|Imagine That Image:3187k.jpg|In My Book File:InMyNeighborhood.jpg|In My Neighborhood Image:Song.meetinsects.jpg‎|The Insects In Your Neighborhood Image:Ivegottwo.jpg|I've Got Two Image:Jfriends.jpg|J Friends Image:Just-One-Me.jpg|Just One Me Image:WonderfulMeSingle.jpg|Knock Three Times Image:Letsgodriving.jpg|Let's Go Driving Image:Album.singalong-lp.jpg|Let's Sing A Song That Everybody Knows Image:FirstTimeLP.jpg|Lonesome Joan Image:Monstermeal.jpg|M-M-M Monster Meal Image:SSMad!.jpg|Mad Image:Molove.jpg|Mountain of Love Image:3789ad.jpg|My Name Image:Song.naptime.jpg|Naptime Image:NastyDan.jpg|Nasty Dan Image:Song.NoMatterHowYouCountThem.jpg|No Matter How You Count Them Image:SSSingle.NoMatterLanguageCanta.jpg|No Matter What Your Language Image:SomeOfUsAreHere.jpg|None Some All Image:Oatmealbox.JPG‎|Oatmeal Box Image:2293f.jpg|Octopus Blues Album.peopleneighborhood.jpg|On the Very First Day Image:OneOne-MakeTwo.jpg|One and One Make Two Image:OneBanana.jpg|One Banana Folge2475-14.jpg|One Bark (and Two Meows) Image:OneFineFace.jpg|One Fine Face Image:Song.onepotato.jpg|One Potato Image:3031d.jpg|One Small Voice Image:Song.OppositeStuff.jpg‎|Opposite Stuff Image:Myfavoriteletter.jpg|P Is My Favorite Letter Image:Peopleinyrnbhood.jpg|The People in Your Neighborhood Image:2754f.jpg‎|The Perfect Thing Image:Pct2.jpg|Pigeons and Cookies and Trash Image:SSProud.jpg|Proud Image:SesameQuestionSong.jpg|The Question Song Image:Song.Rainfalls.jpg|Rain Falls Image:RaiseYourHand.jpg|Raise Your Hand Image:GroverElmoFavoriteColor.jpg|Red and Blue Image:Elmo.monalisa.jpg|Right in the Middle of My Face RockNRollStar.jpg|Rock 'N Roll Star Image:Rubberduckie1970.jpg|Rubber Duckie Image:SSSad.jpg|Sad Image:Sammythesnake.jpg|Sammy the Snake Image:Song.scratchmyback.jpg|Scratch My Back Image:Sing-song-play-along-game.jpg|Shake Your Head One Time Image:Song.sharing.jpg|Sharing 4116u.jpg|School Rap Image:EBSix.jpg|Six (My Favorite Number Is) Image:Skin.jpg|Skin Image:SS2BookandRecord.jpg|Someday, Little Children Song.Somethingsarelittle.jpg|Some Things are Big Image:Songofthecount.jpg|The Song of the Count Image:simonsoundmansong.jpg|Sound Song Image:The Sound of the Letter A.jpg|The Sound of the Letter A Image:YouLP.jpg|Special Image:Song.stillwelike.jpg|Still, We Like Each Other Image:SSSurpriseSong.jpg|Surprise! Image:Song.tadpole.jpg|Tadpole Image:1993TakeaRest.jpg|Take a Rest Image:FirstTimeLP.jpg|Tall Enough Image:Album.singalong-lp.jpg|There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea Think-Of-Fingers.jpg|Think of Your Fingers Image:Song.three.jpg|Three Image:Bae1.JPG|Things That I Remember Image:ELY08.jpg|Tu Me Gustas Image:TwoGSounds.jpg|Two G Sounds Image:UpandDownMonsters.jpg|Up and Down Image:Everybodys.jpg|Up Goes the Castle Image:BirthdayLP.jpg|A Very Unhappy Birthday (To You) Image:Very Very Special Letter.jpg|Very, Very Special Letter Image:SSSingle.BoyFromIndiana.jpg|Walk Down the Street Image:Song.wally.jpg|Wally Image:Song.earthlings.jpg|We Are All Earthlings 2485c.jpg|Wedding Day 2485y.jpg|Wedding Pictures Image:Grover.jpg|What Do I Do When I'm Alone? Image:Everybodys.jpg|With Every Beat of My Heart Image:WonderfulMeSingle.jpg|Wonderful Me Image:WonderfulYucchy1.jpg|Wonderful/Yucchy Image:Bobopfamilysong.jpg|The Word Family Song Image:YoundYouandMe.jpg|You and You and Me Image:YouTickleMe.jpg|You Tickle Me The Muppets Take Manhattan See also: [[The Muppets Take Manhattan (soundtrack)|''The Muppets Take Manhattan soundtrack]] Image:Marriage.jpg|He'll Make Me Happy Image:Igaly.jpg|I'm Gonna Always Love You Image:Rat_scat.JPG|Rat Scat (Something's Cookin') Image:Rightwhereibelong.JPG|Right Where I Belong Image:Sayinggoodbye.jpg|Saying Goodbye Image:Somebodysgettingmarried.jpg|Somebody's Getting Married Image:Togetheragain.jpg|Together Again Image:Canttakeno.jpg|You Can't Take No for an Answer Other Productions Image:Onelittlestar.JPG|One Little Star (from Follow That Bird) Image:Upsidedownworld.JPG|Upside Down World (from Follow That Bird) File:"The Christmas Toy"-0|Toys Love to Play (from The Christmas Toy) Image:Noimage.png|The Greatest Christmas Toy Of All (from The Christmas Toy) Image:Noimage.png|Try The Impossible (from The Christmas Toy) Image:Meteora (song).jpg|Meteora (from The Christmas Toy) Image:ChristmasToy.jpg|Together at Christmas (from The Christmas Toy) Trivia and Oscar with (clockwise from top) Dulcy Singer, Lisa Simon, Norman Stiles, Jeff Moss and Jon Stone.]] *Moss gave voice to several Anything Muppet singers on Sesame Street, including namesakes Big Jeffy (of Little Jerry and the Monotones), and Jeffy (who sang "I'm Going to Get My Hair Cut," with Cookie Monster). He also voiced a Lavender back-up singer for Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats. *Episode 3786 was dedicated in memory of Moss. Author Credits *Sesame Street Books :*''People in My Family'' (1971) :*''People in Your Neighborhood'' (1971) :*''The Sesame Street Storybook'' (1971) :*''Cookie Monster's Circle Book'' (1972) :*''The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook'' (1973) :*''The Sesame Street ABC Storybook'' (1974) :*''Oscar's Book'' (1975) :*''The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales'' (1975) :*''The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook'' (1978) :*''The Sesame Street Library'' (1978-1979) :*''People in My Family'' (1983) :*''The Sesame Street Treasury'' (1983) :*''The Songs of Sesame Street in Poems and Pictures'' (1983) :*''The Sesame Street Book of Poetry'' (1992) *Other Poetry Collections :*''The Butterfly Jar'' :*''The Other Side of the Door'' :*''Bone Poems'' *Other Short Stories :*''Bob and Jack: A Boy and His Yak'' :*''Hieronymus White'' :*''Dad of the Dad of the Dad of Your Dad'' External links *Festival Attractions, Inc. on Internet Archive *IMDb Category:Composers Category:Writers Category:Authors Category:Muppet Voice Actors